Jez Sherwin | AI & Innovation Design Lead

Jez Sherwin

AI & Innovation Design Lead

Innovation fire starter, crafting bold experiences and future-ready strategies.

Hi, I'm Jez Sherwin

//AI & Innovation Design Lead + Founder of Futures Jam

The future isn’t something that happens to you. It’s something you can change.

Experienced and passionate designer, innovator, strategist and founder of Futures Jam. I’ve been delivering impactful design solutions and transforming teams into innovation superstars for over 20 years.

I help businesses see what’s coming, find the ideas people need and use design and AI to make them real. The following is just a taster of my design and strategy portfolio. To get the full story, you’ll need to hear it straight from the horse’s mouth. jez@futuresjam.com

I've worked with some amazing teams

Brand Design >> VR, Gen AI, ML >> Design Futures

As Design Lead at Earthena AI – a decision intelligence / generative AI start-up – I translated complex AI opportunities into tangible prototypes, whilst also creating a coherent brand, complete with logo, design system, website and customer/investor engagement material. This drove investor confidence and helped secure Earthena AI’s angel-round funding.

As Innovation Design Lead at O2 Telefónica’s The Lab, my workshops opened up £30M+ of business opportunities with leading brands such as McDonald’s and Tesco, and my 5G use-case expeditions with FTSE 100 companies went on to deliver award-winning trials.

I also led the design strategy to tackle data poverty for 500,000+ people in the UK, resulting in the award-winning National Data Bank, which then became O2 Telefónica’s Christmas campaign for two years in a row.

I’m an ambassador for the NWG Innovation Festival, running Design Sprints there since 2018, a popular speaker at large team and public events such as 5Springs, and a leading proponent of VR for business.

In 2023 I founded Futures Jam to help organisations explore the impact (positive and negative) of potential futures using disruptive challenge workshops.

Got an innovation, design or strategy challenge? Let’s chat. jez@futuresjam.com

// Three Pillars of Expertise

Brand + Experience Design Lead

A professionally trained designer, I deliver revenue-centric design that furthers business ambitions and helps start-ups secure critical investor funding. I create “heart and soul” brands that flow seamlessly into customer experience (CX) and user journey (UX) to build deep emotional connections and authentic brand values and customer love.

Innovation Design Strategies

I lead high-impact design strategy and cross-functional “tiger teams” to solve complex enterprise challenges. At the O2 Lab, I specialised in using innovation design sprints and strategy workshops to bridge the gap between emerging technology (5G, AI, VR) and commercial viability, consistently delivering measurable ROI and strengthening multi-million-pound B2B partnerships.

Workshops for Future Resilience

As a passionate futurist, I love turbocharging business resilience by running future-casting workshops. Using design futures and strategic foresight, I guide teams through speculative scenarios to explore what might lie ahead. This approach helps organisations prepare for potential future scenarios. It can be used to identify opportunities and develop strategies that seize advantage.

PREV NEXT

Jez Sherwin's Design Sprint is showcased in the O'Reilly Design Sprint Book, A Practical Guidebook for Building Great Digital Products written by Richard Banfield, C. Todd Lombardo and Trace Wax
Jez Sherwin is an outstanding Experience Design Lead. During my three years as his manager and Head of the Lab, I saw the substantial impact he had across O2. Jez was instrumental in crafting and delivering innovative Design Thinking strategies that challenged and transformed traditional business methods, resulting in exceptional achievements.
Jez played an important role in translating our complex technology and vision into compelling brand identities, product experiences and prototypes. His work helped us communicate the art of the possible to investors, customers and strategic partners. I’d happily recommend him to any organisation looking for a talented, forward-thinking designer who understands how to turn complex technology into engaging experiences.
Iggy Bassi, Earthena AI
Jez is a fantastic, enthusiastic and hyper-creative individual. His ability to break down complex problems and issues into key pain points is second to none. I would not hesitate to work with Jez again in the future and he would make a valuable asset to any team. He is a true innovator!
Bradley Allen, The Lab at O2